We are seeking proposals for one essay on the subject of Africanapproaches to literature and human rights.

As evidenced by scholarly production, major conferences, and courseofferings, the interdisciplinary pairing of human rights and literaturehas gained necessary momentum since 2001. Still, there are few book-length studies to accompany and help define this growing field and nonethat fully address the foundational issues of theorizing this new sub-field. We have had initial interest from the University of PennsylvaniaPress Series in Human Rights and are seeking at least one essay on thesubject of African approaches to literature and human rights.

If there is a danger that, in Upendra Baxiâ€™s words, â€œhuman rightsâ€¦is amoral language (like those of â€˜social justiceâ€™, â€˜equalityâ€™,and â€˜redistributionâ€™) that is simply exhausted,â€ how might literarydiscourses reinvigorate it? And if â€œeducation in the Humanities attemptsto be an uncoercive rearrangement of desiresâ€ (Spivak), what are weteaching (for) when we teach literature and/of human rights? Possiblequestions to consider may include: How may â€œhuman rightsâ€ be defined asan approach to global literary production? How is the relationshipbetween the literary subject, the reading subject, and the subject whobears rights negotiated from a specifically African context? How arehuman rights and literary narratologies related? How do we incorporatecritiques of human rights and its link to Western imperialism intoapproaches to African and African diasporic literatures? How are thematerial conditions of the production and circulation of globalliteratures and rights related? Why and how is this theoretical andmethodological approach significant in our contemporary historicalmoment? What does postcolonialism have to do with human rights in anAfrican literary context?

Please send a 500-word proposal and c.v. to both editors by 15 October2008; general inquiries are also welcome.